


Ca'redal

by mxartbotboy



Series: Taylir Ca'nara (Keeping Time) [4]
Category: The Mandalorian (LadyIrina AU), The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Domestic, Fluff, I know, Late night shenanigans, M/M, Mando husbands, all fluff, dance lessons, i'm sorry i had to, its a dance fic, nothing but fluff, soft, why do i do these things
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-15
Updated: 2020-04-15
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:47:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23662585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mxartbotboy/pseuds/mxartbotboy
Summary: "You still haven't shown me any Mandalorian dances."And it's never a bad time for an impromptu dance lesson.
Relationships: Corin the Stormtrooper (Rescue and Regret)/The Mandalorian (The Mandalorian TV), Din Djarin/Corin Valentis (LadyIrina AU)
Series: Taylir Ca'nara (Keeping Time) [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1702948
Comments: 21
Kudos: 93





	Ca'redal

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Hidden and Revealed](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23599798) by [LadyIrina](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyIrina/pseuds/LadyIrina). 



“You still haven’t shown me any Mandalorian dances.”

Head propped up and elbow sinking into the pillow, Din stopped his gentle tracing of Corin’s collarbone and sighed, “Why do you want me to teach you?”

“Because,” Slipping an arm around Din’s waist, he suddenly pulled him down, grinning. With a grunt, Din narrowly avoided crushing his nose into Corin’s chest as he went tumbling forward, “It’s fun.”

Corin didn’t know why he’d asked again, if he was being honest with himself. Somehow, he could never imagine Din spinning around holding hands with a dance partner. But he thought back to Din’s remark on the grassy knoll at Giano and Cipolla’s wedding, and the idea of him watching Corin dance from afar, sweaty and laughing, made his heart ache in a peculiar way he hadn’t experienced before.

Shaking the hair from his eyes, Din pursed his lips to keep the smile threatening the corners from emerging, “Fun. Right.”

“It is, dancing.” Corin couldn’t help reaching up to tuck an errant curl behind Din’s ear before he stopped himself. There was still a part of him that would remember it was Din’s hair; a part of him that until recently Corin had only imagined.

Din’s gaze softened and he caught Corin’s retreating hand in his. Wordlessly, he pressed a kiss into the palm and then gently laid his cheek in it, allowing Corin’s fingertips to brush at his hairline. Corin hardly dared breathe as he watched the movement. This part of Din was new to him too, the part that loved to kiss and have his face touched. Somehow, it still felt like that these parts were not meant for Corin, even though he knew it was irrational for him to think so. He had to remind himself that they were his now too, that Din was giving all of himself willingly like this.

“Mandalorian dances don’t really have partners,” Din murmured, continuing his nuzzling.

Corin blinked, returning to the present conversation. His surprise must have shown; he felt the smile bloom beneath his fingers, brilliant and warm.

“Besides,” Corin’s hand was being pulled over the curve of Din’s jaw, “I’m not a very good dancer.”

“Well maybe I could teach you.”

Din raised an eyebrow and Corin blushed, looking away, “I mean, I only know a couple and I’m not great, but I could…” He already felt silly for making the suggestion, focussing on the table across the room to try to ignore the embarrassment crawling up his neck.

He jumped when lips tickled against his cheekbone, “Teach me, then.”

Corin’s gaze snapped back up, “Really?”

Din pecked his cheek lightly, “If you want.” Pushing himself up to straddle Corin’s thighs, he held his hand out expectantly.

“Wait, right now– Oh!” Corin sat up suddenly, jostling Din and nearly sending him toppling over.

“Corin!”

“I have an idea.” Shoving the covers off, along with a grumbling Din, Corin pulled out his boots from under the bed and began to slip them on, heart pounding with a mix of nerves and excitement, “Get your shoes and helmet.”

Hesitantly, Din complied, watching curiously as Corin fished out his datapad from the bedside drawer, “Where are we going?”

“You’ll see,” Corin held out his hand to mirror Din’s offer from earlier, “Come on.”

They moved quietly through the halls, not wanting to disturb the soundly sleeping Covert. As they wound around one corner after another, Din realized they were in a part of the underground complex he’d never been in before. Clearly, Corin had. He walked with purpose, still holding Din’s hand firmly. It seemed almost scandalous; while public displays of affection were by no means unheard of, Din was unarmoured save for his helmet, gloveless, only in a thin shirt and one of Corin’s jackets, and skin-on-skin contact was hardly done outside of their room. It was invigorating and thrilling to be with Corin like this.

After a few minutes of brisk walking, Corin led Din through a doorway into a large, domed room, which like most of the complex, was lined with cave gems that cast a dim, warm light along the walls.

“I found this when I was exploring with _ad’ika_.” Corin led him to the centre of the space, “Stay there.”

He left Din to walk to the far side of the room, where there was a broken outcrop of rocks that appeared to have used to be some kind of platform. Looking down to the datapad, Corin typed in a couple things before balancing it on one of the larger rocks and tapping the screen.

Immediately, the room was flooded with the soft, lilting notes of a string instrument that Din couldn’t identify. It was amazing; even though Din could see the source of the music, it seemed to be coming from all directions, floating around him in a rolling melody.

Corin was smiling now and he held out his arms, “Isn’t this amazing? I think it used to be a music hall.”

Din glanced over his shoulder, “Won’t the music wake the others?”

“The acoustics of the hall muffles the noise.” Next to him now, Corin lifted Din’s hand and bowed, kissing his knuckles and enjoying the faint flush that crept up his neck, “Ready for you lesson?”

Starting with the just the steps, Din’s hands in his, Corin led him around the room in a simple, slow waltz. While a Mandalorian helmet had many sensors designed to make up for the lack of peripheral vision, none had been designed with dancing in mind and Din had his head bent almost ninety degrees forward in order to see their feet as they moved. However, they soon were able to speed up and were one, two, three-ing around the room with relative ease.

“ _Ner kar’ta_ ,” Corin said, pausing briefly, “You know, you _do_ have to look at your partner eventually.”

The visor jerked up and Corin felt Din begin to pull away, “I’m sorry–”

“No, no, you’re doing great.” Gently tugging him forward, Corin placed Din’s left hand on his shoulder, “You have the steps. Let me lead now.” He pulled Din in close, wrapping his right arm behind him. Their bodies warmed at the contact in the cool evening air and Corin could see his eyes reflected in the visor.

“Lead away,” Din’s voice was low, vibrating through Corin like a bass and he swallowed, suddenly nervous again. Waiting for the beat in the song, Corin counted them in and they were off. Din stumbled a few steps in, unused to the hold guiding him through the movement, but with a pause to recover and another count-in, they were off. It was just a simple step repeated, but it was nice to move through the space together, circling round and round as the music played on.

“Where did you learn to dance like this?” Din asked, words slightly stilted from the split focus of following Corin and asking the question.

“My mother taught me.”

A memory of him dancing as a boy with his mother popped up, the details faded like a tapestry in the sun, but for a moment the hand on his shoulder was hers, patiently teaching him how to lead. He could smell her perfume and hear the swish of her skirt on the expensive floor rug of the parlour. It disappeared into the recesses of his mind as quickly as it came, just as the song ended, and they came to an abrupt stop.

It was silent only for a moment before the song began again, looping like Corin had set it to. They both stood there, arms in position, letting the music wash over them.

"Thank you for showing me this," Din said finally, letting go of Corin's hand and resting it on his chest instead. Corin's hand landed on the lapel of Din's jacket- his jacket- and fingered at the worn fabric. He thought about the armour Din usually wore so vigilantly, the armour currently stowed away in their room and how little lay between his hand and Din's skin. His _riduur_ ’s skin. He looked up to Din, head tilted in that endearing way that told Corin he was thinking.

Clearing his throat, Corin patted the lapel, "I'm glad that you liked it. It's called a waltz."

"Funny name."

Corin rolled his eyes, ”What do you call a Mandalorian dance then?"

"T'adtab." The grin was already crossing Din's face as he spoke and Corin poked his chest.

"Okay, t'adtab is _worse_ than waltz."

"It's the only one I know." Cool beskar pressed against Corin's forehead, "I'll teach you sometime. I promise."

Closing his eyes, he leaned into the touch, moving to tighten both arms around Din's waist. Faintly, he could hear the inhale and exhale of Din's breath through the modulator and he sighed. The song began its loop again, strings singing out it’s even _one, two, three, one, two, three_ around them.

Lifting away, Corin stroked a thumb down Din’s spine, “It’s late. We should head to bed.”

They took their time, holding hands and making their way back to the room at a quiet, leisurely pace. And although the datapad remained silently tucked beneath Corin’s arm, he could still hear the music all the way back.

**Author's Note:**

> Translations:
> 
> Ca’redal - Night dance  
> ad'ika - little one/child  
> Ner kar’ta - My heart  
> Riduur - Husband/partner  
> T’adtab - a Mandalorian dance (literally ‘two-step’)
> 
> If you're interested, I used the Laendler from The Sound of Music as the inspiration for the song Corin plays. I imagined that was the kind of world he grew up in, so I'm just rolling with it. 
> 
> Overall I don't really feel as happy with this fic as I'd like but the idea wouldn't stop bouncing around my head and here we are. Oh well. Thanks for reading anyways <3
> 
> Hit me up on tumbr at [mxartbotboy](https://mxartbotboy.tumblr.com) and say hi!


End file.
